The crisis has driven digitalization. What had been predicted for years suddenly had to happen - the Corona crisis is becoming a catalyst for the digitalization of the economy . With digitalization, data usage and the amount of data shared is also increasing.
During the COVID-19 crisis, various initiatives have emerged to monitor the development of the pandemic: from telemedicine applications to the CovPass app to the introduction of tools for employee monitoring in home offices.
Has the pandemic had an impact on the adoption of personal identification technologies such as biometrics? To what extent are Germans willing to share their personal data? Capterra investigates this in this two-part survey with 1,453 consumers and employees from Germany. In this first part, we look at the results of the 745 consumers surveyed. A detailed methodology of this survey can be found at the end of this article.
Biometric Technology and its Applications
An individual can be recognized based on his or her unique physical and behavioral characteristics. For this reason, biometric technologies enable the authentication and identification of people based on these same data.
For a long time, biometric data recognition was only found in espionage and science fiction scenarios and in real life in high-security areas.
Today, it is increasingly used in everyday situations. In addition to biometric passport control, it enables access to a location or unlocking a device such as a smartphone.
What are biometric technologies
Biometric technologies are used to prevent document fraud, identity theft and cybercrime and are among the technological solutions in this field.
In particular, based on the unique biological and behavioral characteristics of individuals, it enables the identification and authentication of individuals on a reliable and rapid basis.
Two types of measures are taken into account by these technologies:
Behavioral measurements: recognition of the voice, gestures or even the speed at which a computer keyboard is typed.
Physiological measurements: morphological (fingerprints, venous network or even facial shape) or biological (DNA, saliva or blood).
Whether you unlock your smartphone with your fingerprint or prove your identity with a facial image when booking online, biometrics have now become part of the habits of many users.
Biometric recognition, whose original purpose was to increase the security of a place vietnam telegram data or device, now helps to provide a certain level of convenience to the user by offering faster and contactless processes.
However, due to the type of personal data they collect, biometric technologies also raise a concern: the risk of hacker attacks. Below, we look at which biometric methods are being used, whether the pandemic has affected usage, and what concerns are being raised.
52% of biometric users surveyed said they regularly use fingerprint scanning, while 27% use facial recognition. Both fingerprint and facial scanning are used to unlock modern smartphones, which would explain why they are used more frequently compared to the other methods mentioned. 40% of respondents said they do not use any of the other biometric technologies mentioned in our study.
How often Germans use biometric data
The pandemic has led to a slight increase in the use of biometric methods
The COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by an increased use of digital offerings. Likewise, fewer, less protected private devices are being used in home offices. This increases private and professional security risks, which cyber criminals benefit from .
According to a study by the market research company Bilendi & respondi from February 2022, more than half of German Internet users are concerned (45%) or even very concerned (13%) about being affected by identity theft.